S4: How did the enemy exploit sustainment weaknesses to contribute to the US withdrawal to the Pusan Perimeter?

Initially the biggest advantage for the NKPA was the element of surprise.  Despite continuous psychological and political pressure and several military false alarms, the actual invasion of South Korea came as a surprise.  The Majority of the KMAG advisors and ROKA officers and men were on passes spending time away from their post.  This allowed the NKPA to overwhelm the shorthanded ROK army, and the soldiers that were left to fight were not prepared to deal with the NKPA threat.

With the early American involvement there wasn’t much of a logistical plan, initially the mission was to “police” because there still wasn’t a full understanding of what was actually happening.  Most Americans thought once the NKPA realized that American troops were on the ground they would simply turn the other way.  This obviously did not happen and the new objective was to stall the advance until more help could arrive.  These American soldiers suffered the same weakness as the ROK army, they had no answer for the soviet tanks and therefore could not stop the NKPA advance.

The NKPA exploited sustainment weaknesses by using the element of surprise and overwhelming force.  Neither the US nor the ROK army were prepared for an all-out attack from the NKPA and they were unable to eliminate the Russian tanks which owned the early battlefield.